Retro Story Hour: (Contact's) Temple of Elemental Evil 2!
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- Start date
(contact)
Explorer
Just make it a command word I can remember . . .
Sixteen: The Way Things Work Here in Wonderville
(or, “DC Thirty -Five? Are you f--king kidding me?”)
With an emptied staff of the elements in hand, and a naked conjurer, the party feels up for anything. The next morning, Anton generously offers Jespo the use of his spell books to memorize some spells. Jespo picks up a couple of spells the two mages actually have in common, and a small strike force sets out to recharge their newly won staff.
Jespo, Anton, Egil and Heydricus accost the elementals guarding the earth temple on level one. After proving to themselves once again that they’re just not tough enough to go toe to toe with 12 HD monsters, the party manages to trap one of the elementals into the staff and power its Elemental Earth aspect, before fleeing.
They return for a quick trial-run at Zuggtomoy’s temple, and start a fight with some animated suits of mail. Anton, wielding the staff, enjoys the once-a-round crystalbrittle so much that his cackles seem sure to bring all wandering-monsterdom down on the PC’s heads. The strike force hastily returns to base before something does come to investigate.
Jespo announces to the party that he must soon set out for Greyhawk City to retrieve his other set of spellbooks, but before he leaves . . . Never a group known for their cowardice (or good sense), the whole party gathers together and decides to solve the mystery of the purple stones.
As they travel to the Temple of Fungal Evil (magic-resistant DC 19 Jock Itch! Where’s my lucky dice?), the party spots a pair of trolls investigating the ruined access doors. Anton, reveling in his new-found power, traps the beasts up to their waists in a rock to mud, and after a suggestion by Pris that the trolls should touch their toes, followed by a quick dispel magic, the mighty trolls become just another speed bump.
Aside: Perhaps an observant player can read the look of horror on a DMs face when his fearsome encounters are blithely brushed aside. Perhaps this, itself, should be a form of foreshadowing for those who understand The Way Things Work Here in Wonderville.
Our heroes carefully examine the throne of Zuggtomoy, covered from base to tip in gems and jewels of high quality, and the three obelisks of precious metal that sit in the antechamber: solid silver, gold and platinum. Guessing that anything that looks too good to be true probably is, the PCs wisely refrain from hauling all the wealth off to their base.
A thorough search of the rest of Zuggtomoy’s temple turning up nothing further of interest, our heroes face the Enigmatic Purple Stones of Death. Pris and Jespo summon extraplanar allies, and 7 formian workers later, the party has deduced the following facts:
1) The left-most stone instantly severs the hand of anyone touching it,
2) The left-center stone spews a field of (apparently limitless) green slime into the area in front of the stones,
3) The right-center stone fires an unavoidable brace of poisoned darts at anyone touching it,
4) The right-most stone triggers a massive lightning bolt of frightening proportion,
5) These effects happen regardless of the order in which the stones are touched, and
6) If any being sweeps all the stones off the shelf at once, no harmful effects are incurred,
and a secret niche opens up behind the shelf.
In the secret space behind the stones is a scroll case, a small wooden box, and a small metal cube, all of which radiate magic. The formian who swept the stones is instructed to retrieve the objects (just to be safe, of course) and brings them into the obelisk room.
Jespo casts read magic and informs the party that the scroll is arcane magic, and includes one third level spell, two of the sixth, and two of the eighth! The wooden box contains several potions, and the cube has a name inscribed into one of its sides. Jespo recognizes the name, and thinking out loud, mutters “Daern? . . .”
Suddenly, the cube transforms into a iron fortress! Twenty feet to a side, the square tower reaches thirty feet in height, complete with battlements! Jespo, completely stunned, finds himself in the center of a plain room, composed entirely of iron with arrow slits giving a 360’ view of the surrounding area.
As he notices that he can’t see any of his friends from the arrow slits, Jespo opens the door to find his friends sprawled all over the room in various states of injury. As the iron fortress instantly expanded it magically transposed Jespo into its interior, but hit the rest of the party like a size-H freight train. The PCs were thrown in all directions, and survived, save for Anton, who was smashed into the stone floor and dragged, totally obliterating both his mortal shell, and his staff of the elements.
Jespo, looking on in horror, slowly begins to realize that the unrecognizable object in front of him is what remains of his oldest adventuring companion. As his voice chokes in his throat, and he is forced to suppress the urge to vomit, a mocking feline voice resounds in his mind:
“It should have been you, Jespo”.
Sixteen: The Way Things Work Here in Wonderville
(or, “DC Thirty -Five? Are you f--king kidding me?”)
With an emptied staff of the elements in hand, and a naked conjurer, the party feels up for anything. The next morning, Anton generously offers Jespo the use of his spell books to memorize some spells. Jespo picks up a couple of spells the two mages actually have in common, and a small strike force sets out to recharge their newly won staff.
Jespo, Anton, Egil and Heydricus accost the elementals guarding the earth temple on level one. After proving to themselves once again that they’re just not tough enough to go toe to toe with 12 HD monsters, the party manages to trap one of the elementals into the staff and power its Elemental Earth aspect, before fleeing.
They return for a quick trial-run at Zuggtomoy’s temple, and start a fight with some animated suits of mail. Anton, wielding the staff, enjoys the once-a-round crystalbrittle so much that his cackles seem sure to bring all wandering-monsterdom down on the PC’s heads. The strike force hastily returns to base before something does come to investigate.
Jespo announces to the party that he must soon set out for Greyhawk City to retrieve his other set of spellbooks, but before he leaves . . . Never a group known for their cowardice (or good sense), the whole party gathers together and decides to solve the mystery of the purple stones.
As they travel to the Temple of Fungal Evil (magic-resistant DC 19 Jock Itch! Where’s my lucky dice?), the party spots a pair of trolls investigating the ruined access doors. Anton, reveling in his new-found power, traps the beasts up to their waists in a rock to mud, and after a suggestion by Pris that the trolls should touch their toes, followed by a quick dispel magic, the mighty trolls become just another speed bump.
Aside: Perhaps an observant player can read the look of horror on a DMs face when his fearsome encounters are blithely brushed aside. Perhaps this, itself, should be a form of foreshadowing for those who understand The Way Things Work Here in Wonderville.
Our heroes carefully examine the throne of Zuggtomoy, covered from base to tip in gems and jewels of high quality, and the three obelisks of precious metal that sit in the antechamber: solid silver, gold and platinum. Guessing that anything that looks too good to be true probably is, the PCs wisely refrain from hauling all the wealth off to their base.
A thorough search of the rest of Zuggtomoy’s temple turning up nothing further of interest, our heroes face the Enigmatic Purple Stones of Death. Pris and Jespo summon extraplanar allies, and 7 formian workers later, the party has deduced the following facts:
1) The left-most stone instantly severs the hand of anyone touching it,
2) The left-center stone spews a field of (apparently limitless) green slime into the area in front of the stones,
3) The right-center stone fires an unavoidable brace of poisoned darts at anyone touching it,
4) The right-most stone triggers a massive lightning bolt of frightening proportion,
5) These effects happen regardless of the order in which the stones are touched, and
6) If any being sweeps all the stones off the shelf at once, no harmful effects are incurred,
and a secret niche opens up behind the shelf.
In the secret space behind the stones is a scroll case, a small wooden box, and a small metal cube, all of which radiate magic. The formian who swept the stones is instructed to retrieve the objects (just to be safe, of course) and brings them into the obelisk room.
Jespo casts read magic and informs the party that the scroll is arcane magic, and includes one third level spell, two of the sixth, and two of the eighth! The wooden box contains several potions, and the cube has a name inscribed into one of its sides. Jespo recognizes the name, and thinking out loud, mutters “Daern? . . .”
Suddenly, the cube transforms into a iron fortress! Twenty feet to a side, the square tower reaches thirty feet in height, complete with battlements! Jespo, completely stunned, finds himself in the center of a plain room, composed entirely of iron with arrow slits giving a 360’ view of the surrounding area.
As he notices that he can’t see any of his friends from the arrow slits, Jespo opens the door to find his friends sprawled all over the room in various states of injury. As the iron fortress instantly expanded it magically transposed Jespo into its interior, but hit the rest of the party like a size-H freight train. The PCs were thrown in all directions, and survived, save for Anton, who was smashed into the stone floor and dragged, totally obliterating both his mortal shell, and his staff of the elements.
Jespo, looking on in horror, slowly begins to realize that the unrecognizable object in front of him is what remains of his oldest adventuring companion. As his voice chokes in his throat, and he is forced to suppress the urge to vomit, a mocking feline voice resounds in his mind:
“It should have been you, Jespo”.
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Circle of Crows
First Post
(contact)- I would have loved to have seen your face when you triggered the Iron Fortress. Scratch that-- I would have loved to see your DM's face(and heard his evil laughs) when you triggered the Iron Fortress.
Old Fezziwig
Thanks for the sour persimmons, cousin.
[Edit] Nevermind. Just figured out my mistake. [/Edit]
Last edited:
Holy Bovine
First Post
These last two episodes are two of my favourites.
Wulf Ratbane
Adventurer
(contact) said:
Yeah, careful there dinkeldog. God forbid, he might hit you with his truncheon.
(contact)
Explorer
What's bad for the gander is bad for the rest of the farm animals, too.
Seventeen: Life is a swirling, gurgling eddy of despair, punctuated by moments of fleeting hope.
(or, “So, how’re we doing?”)
After Anton’s remains are reverently scraped together, Jespo attempts to defend himself from the accusatory glares of his party members by commenting, “Well, D - - is very well respected in wizardly circles, you know. What kind of accursed egotist uses his own name as a command word, for the love of Boccob?”
The party examines an antechamber off of Zuggtomoy’s temple that contains a map of the area. The Temple compound is in the center of a series of expanding rings, drawn over the countryside, each with a date. The largest ring encompasses the vast majority of Furyondy and is dated for two days hence! Worse yet, arrows that seem to depict troop movements branch out from the Lands of Iuz into Crystalreach, and from the Temple into Verbobonc, Veluna, and Furyondy. If our heroes needed proof that the temple was spearheading an invasion into the lands of Good, this is it. The date of Lady Anne’s coronation in Verbobonc is also scrawled on the map, lending credence to the party’s suspicion that she has, in fact, been replaced by the Succubus who impersonated the Lady Marie of Knulb.
Jespo announces that he must fly to Greyhawk to retrieve his duplicate spellbooks. The party decides to accompany him part of the way, but are quickly shocked to find themselves on the heels of a large army, led by priests of Iuz. Getting ahead of the blundering morass of evil humanoids, humans and giants should prove no trouble, but the loss of Anton rankles in Egil’s soul. “What’s good for the gander is good for the goose,” he decides, and with arcane assistance in the form of loaned-out magic items, Egil plans a one-fighter commando assault on the army’s leadership.
He creeps into the midst of the evil priests and activates the iron fortress.
Two of the three priests are instantly killed, but one is thrown free, and survives. The surviving priest commands his giants to assault the fortress, and they do. Oh, but they do. Egil calmly activates his figurine of wondrous power - - stone horse, uses a ring of spell storing to become invisible again, and reduces the iron fortress. A blast from his suit of plate mail of fear clears a path, and he rides for all he is worth.
To quote Scooby Doo: “And I would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn’t for you meddling kids”. The surviving priest directs the fire of the assembled giants and humanoids and negates the element of surprise. An element, it turns out, completely crucial to the success of Egil’s plan. Egil is pelted with a withering rain of missile fire, and cannot survive the barrage.
Once again, the party is forced to flee before a massed horde of Evil, although apparently practice does make perfect - - this time they don’t get split up.
They arrive at the Gnomish stronghold in the Kron Hills in time to warn the Gnomes about the Temple’s army marching through their territory. At the mention of Giants, the Gnomish war leaders perk up. They promise that if any army of Evil reaches Verbobonc, it will be so badly mauled as to be unrecognizable. A Gnomish delegate offers to accompany Jespo to Verbobonc, where he can warn the people of the coming assault, and perhaps petition Prisantha’s Master to teleport him to Greyhawk.
Jespo and his Gnomish companions are, of course, greeted with all proper urgency and taken directly into the presence of the Lady Anne, Verbobonc’s new Viscountess. Remembering the party’s tales of the Lady Marie, and cannily recalling their suspicions, Jespo forms a plan. His gnomish associates don’t know him well enough to recoil in horror from the thought, and as it sounds like a kind of practical joke, agree. The delegates from Wonderville contrive to ‘spill’ a little holy water on the Viscountess.
Her flesh immediately burns, and the much-loved ruler of the Land cries out and accuses the group of being assassins sent to kill her. Now Jespo too, will get to know the rare experience of being trapped inside a stronghold full of angry, charmed soldiers and hunted by a Demon with the abilities to both read his mind and teleport without error.
But first, cut to . . .
Seventeen: Life is a swirling, gurgling eddy of despair, punctuated by moments of fleeting hope.
(or, “So, how’re we doing?”)
After Anton’s remains are reverently scraped together, Jespo attempts to defend himself from the accusatory glares of his party members by commenting, “Well, D - - is very well respected in wizardly circles, you know. What kind of accursed egotist uses his own name as a command word, for the love of Boccob?”
The party examines an antechamber off of Zuggtomoy’s temple that contains a map of the area. The Temple compound is in the center of a series of expanding rings, drawn over the countryside, each with a date. The largest ring encompasses the vast majority of Furyondy and is dated for two days hence! Worse yet, arrows that seem to depict troop movements branch out from the Lands of Iuz into Crystalreach, and from the Temple into Verbobonc, Veluna, and Furyondy. If our heroes needed proof that the temple was spearheading an invasion into the lands of Good, this is it. The date of Lady Anne’s coronation in Verbobonc is also scrawled on the map, lending credence to the party’s suspicion that she has, in fact, been replaced by the Succubus who impersonated the Lady Marie of Knulb.
Jespo announces that he must fly to Greyhawk to retrieve his duplicate spellbooks. The party decides to accompany him part of the way, but are quickly shocked to find themselves on the heels of a large army, led by priests of Iuz. Getting ahead of the blundering morass of evil humanoids, humans and giants should prove no trouble, but the loss of Anton rankles in Egil’s soul. “What’s good for the gander is good for the goose,” he decides, and with arcane assistance in the form of loaned-out magic items, Egil plans a one-fighter commando assault on the army’s leadership.
He creeps into the midst of the evil priests and activates the iron fortress.
Two of the three priests are instantly killed, but one is thrown free, and survives. The surviving priest commands his giants to assault the fortress, and they do. Oh, but they do. Egil calmly activates his figurine of wondrous power - - stone horse, uses a ring of spell storing to become invisible again, and reduces the iron fortress. A blast from his suit of plate mail of fear clears a path, and he rides for all he is worth.
To quote Scooby Doo: “And I would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn’t for you meddling kids”. The surviving priest directs the fire of the assembled giants and humanoids and negates the element of surprise. An element, it turns out, completely crucial to the success of Egil’s plan. Egil is pelted with a withering rain of missile fire, and cannot survive the barrage.
Once again, the party is forced to flee before a massed horde of Evil, although apparently practice does make perfect - - this time they don’t get split up.
They arrive at the Gnomish stronghold in the Kron Hills in time to warn the Gnomes about the Temple’s army marching through their territory. At the mention of Giants, the Gnomish war leaders perk up. They promise that if any army of Evil reaches Verbobonc, it will be so badly mauled as to be unrecognizable. A Gnomish delegate offers to accompany Jespo to Verbobonc, where he can warn the people of the coming assault, and perhaps petition Prisantha’s Master to teleport him to Greyhawk.
Jespo and his Gnomish companions are, of course, greeted with all proper urgency and taken directly into the presence of the Lady Anne, Verbobonc’s new Viscountess. Remembering the party’s tales of the Lady Marie, and cannily recalling their suspicions, Jespo forms a plan. His gnomish associates don’t know him well enough to recoil in horror from the thought, and as it sounds like a kind of practical joke, agree. The delegates from Wonderville contrive to ‘spill’ a little holy water on the Viscountess.
Her flesh immediately burns, and the much-loved ruler of the Land cries out and accuses the group of being assassins sent to kill her. Now Jespo too, will get to know the rare experience of being trapped inside a stronghold full of angry, charmed soldiers and hunted by a Demon with the abilities to both read his mind and teleport without error.
But first, cut to . . .
(contact)
Explorer
Hey, man-- nice sword.
Eighteen: “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, / That wants it down” - -Robert Frost
(or, “They’re dead alright . . . they’re all f--ked up.”)
There are 15 days left until the Great Sacrifice.
The gnomes feast the PCs, and heal them of their wounds. The party is introduced to Gnomer, Gnomishic’s father, and a powerful cleric of Garl Glittergold. After hearing of his son’s brave battle, and subsequent death, Gnomer announces that he will be coming to the Temple to take his revenge on the forces of Iuz.
The group begins to plan strategy for their return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. A pair of wanderers introduce themselves: C’min, an elven rogue from the High Forest, and Augustin, a human paladin, aspiring to knighthood in the Holy Shielding. C’min and Augustin see eye to eye on every matter, including the need to aggressively confront Chaos and Evil wherever it may rear its demonic head. Augustin is pledged to the service of Mayahein, a new deity associated with the worship of Pelor, a faith gaining popularity in Furyondy for Her doctrine of aggressive protection. C’min is a High Elf, who has chosen the companionship of humans as a result of her impatient nature, as well as frustration with her people’s deliberate, thoughtful approach to combating the ills of the land.
After administering the holy water test, the party explains their dire situation. C’min and Augustin both reply that they could ask for no better quest, and join up.
Another addition to the group introduces herself. Ethel, an elder sorceress, and her misbehaving ferret Sylvester add more spell power to our small band of resistance fighters. Something in her grandmotherly demeanor is extremely reassuring, and the party neglects to splash her with holy water. After all, it might ruin her hand-knitted shawl.
The group travels under the cover of daylight, and sneaks into their secret base in the Temple’s dungeons. C’min and Augustin divest themselves of all non-necessary gear in true adventurer fashion, impressing Heydricus and the others with their competent, professional manner. Heydricus and the “fresh meat” set out to finally finish exploring the first level, and root out any traces of “reinhabitation”, as C’min clinically puts it.
They return to a room inhabited by manes and wererats, and Heydricus proves resoundingly that he learned from Egil’s advice about the Cleave feat and critical hits solving any problem. Augustin, despite his greatsword, feels like maybe his blade just isn’t as long as it could be. C’min seems impressed by Heydricus’ swordplay and comments that it’s not just how long his blade is, it’s what he kills with it that matters most to her.
After all the entendres settle, the trio discover a fantastic treasure: a suit of elven chain mail lies buried beneath some rags in the werebat’s nest. C’min, as the only elf present, urges Heydricus to don it, and promises to advance his petition to become an elf-friend should they defeat the plans of the wicked Iuzian priests here in the Temple.
Journeying on, the intrepid adventurers encounter a pair of ghouls in a previously undiscovered antechamber. A Holy energy burst from Augustin ends the discourse, and as the party pursues the turned ghouls, they discover that a full dozen more of the abominations lie in wait in the next room. Worse yet, something in the room further beyond is undoing Augustin’s turning, and bolstering the remaining undead.
After hacking their way through a few of the ghouls, the party spots several ghasts protectively surrounding a ghast of menacing proportions. This nasty is dressed in the livery of an Iuzian priest, and as the party watches in horror, silences Heydricus! Had Heydricus the voice, he could have named this undead priest, for it is none other than Romag, the Evil cleric from the Well Fiasco (chapter 4).
The ghouls claw and bite at the heroes, with their cleric exchanging turns for bolstering with Augustin until the paladin is paralyzed by a vicious bite. C’min and Heydricus decide that the better part of valor sounds like a good idea, and drag Augustin’s motionless form from the room, spiking the door behind them. They haven’t fully escaped the area before the ghast cleric and his minions cut them off, using a previously undiscovered secret door.
Heydricus and C’min fight valiantly, but with two unwounded ghasts still standing (one of them the cleric), C’min is paralyzed.
Heydricus trades blows until he is wounded so badly that he cannot continue, lest he join his fallen companions on the Other Side. C’min and Augustin, paralyzed but conscious, are trapped in their frozen bodies, and forced to watch as their only hope leaves them and runs for his life!
The two Ghasts, greedy to the end, pursue the crafty sorcerer, only to be led into a trap. Heydricus has used his knowledge of the dungeon to his advantage, causing one of the ghasts to fall into a pit. Heydricus runs through a maze of corridors and intersections until he is back with his fallen friends. Stripping potions of cure moderate wounds from their belts, Heydricus is able to surprise the returning ghasts, fully healed and thirsting for vengeance! After disposing of the lesser ghast, and working on the cleric (who is stripped of his spellcasting power by the very same silence spell he put on Heydricus), the issue is decided when Augustin finally shakes off his paralysis, and leaps into the fray.
Relative sword sizes aside, the duo make a deadly combination of fighting prowess, and the Iuzian ghoul cleric is overwhelmed. His soul is sent to his demonic master with this message:
“Whatever you may think you have gained, you will lose. Wherever you think you are powerful, we will bring you low. So swears Heydricus, and so swear the Heroes of the Temple”.
Eighteen: “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, / That wants it down” - -Robert Frost
(or, “They’re dead alright . . . they’re all f--ked up.”)
There are 15 days left until the Great Sacrifice.
The gnomes feast the PCs, and heal them of their wounds. The party is introduced to Gnomer, Gnomishic’s father, and a powerful cleric of Garl Glittergold. After hearing of his son’s brave battle, and subsequent death, Gnomer announces that he will be coming to the Temple to take his revenge on the forces of Iuz.
The group begins to plan strategy for their return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. A pair of wanderers introduce themselves: C’min, an elven rogue from the High Forest, and Augustin, a human paladin, aspiring to knighthood in the Holy Shielding. C’min and Augustin see eye to eye on every matter, including the need to aggressively confront Chaos and Evil wherever it may rear its demonic head. Augustin is pledged to the service of Mayahein, a new deity associated with the worship of Pelor, a faith gaining popularity in Furyondy for Her doctrine of aggressive protection. C’min is a High Elf, who has chosen the companionship of humans as a result of her impatient nature, as well as frustration with her people’s deliberate, thoughtful approach to combating the ills of the land.
After administering the holy water test, the party explains their dire situation. C’min and Augustin both reply that they could ask for no better quest, and join up.
Another addition to the group introduces herself. Ethel, an elder sorceress, and her misbehaving ferret Sylvester add more spell power to our small band of resistance fighters. Something in her grandmotherly demeanor is extremely reassuring, and the party neglects to splash her with holy water. After all, it might ruin her hand-knitted shawl.
The group travels under the cover of daylight, and sneaks into their secret base in the Temple’s dungeons. C’min and Augustin divest themselves of all non-necessary gear in true adventurer fashion, impressing Heydricus and the others with their competent, professional manner. Heydricus and the “fresh meat” set out to finally finish exploring the first level, and root out any traces of “reinhabitation”, as C’min clinically puts it.
They return to a room inhabited by manes and wererats, and Heydricus proves resoundingly that he learned from Egil’s advice about the Cleave feat and critical hits solving any problem. Augustin, despite his greatsword, feels like maybe his blade just isn’t as long as it could be. C’min seems impressed by Heydricus’ swordplay and comments that it’s not just how long his blade is, it’s what he kills with it that matters most to her.
After all the entendres settle, the trio discover a fantastic treasure: a suit of elven chain mail lies buried beneath some rags in the werebat’s nest. C’min, as the only elf present, urges Heydricus to don it, and promises to advance his petition to become an elf-friend should they defeat the plans of the wicked Iuzian priests here in the Temple.
Journeying on, the intrepid adventurers encounter a pair of ghouls in a previously undiscovered antechamber. A Holy energy burst from Augustin ends the discourse, and as the party pursues the turned ghouls, they discover that a full dozen more of the abominations lie in wait in the next room. Worse yet, something in the room further beyond is undoing Augustin’s turning, and bolstering the remaining undead.
After hacking their way through a few of the ghouls, the party spots several ghasts protectively surrounding a ghast of menacing proportions. This nasty is dressed in the livery of an Iuzian priest, and as the party watches in horror, silences Heydricus! Had Heydricus the voice, he could have named this undead priest, for it is none other than Romag, the Evil cleric from the Well Fiasco (chapter 4).
The ghouls claw and bite at the heroes, with their cleric exchanging turns for bolstering with Augustin until the paladin is paralyzed by a vicious bite. C’min and Heydricus decide that the better part of valor sounds like a good idea, and drag Augustin’s motionless form from the room, spiking the door behind them. They haven’t fully escaped the area before the ghast cleric and his minions cut them off, using a previously undiscovered secret door.
Heydricus and C’min fight valiantly, but with two unwounded ghasts still standing (one of them the cleric), C’min is paralyzed.
Heydricus trades blows until he is wounded so badly that he cannot continue, lest he join his fallen companions on the Other Side. C’min and Augustin, paralyzed but conscious, are trapped in their frozen bodies, and forced to watch as their only hope leaves them and runs for his life!
The two Ghasts, greedy to the end, pursue the crafty sorcerer, only to be led into a trap. Heydricus has used his knowledge of the dungeon to his advantage, causing one of the ghasts to fall into a pit. Heydricus runs through a maze of corridors and intersections until he is back with his fallen friends. Stripping potions of cure moderate wounds from their belts, Heydricus is able to surprise the returning ghasts, fully healed and thirsting for vengeance! After disposing of the lesser ghast, and working on the cleric (who is stripped of his spellcasting power by the very same silence spell he put on Heydricus), the issue is decided when Augustin finally shakes off his paralysis, and leaps into the fray.
Relative sword sizes aside, the duo make a deadly combination of fighting prowess, and the Iuzian ghoul cleric is overwhelmed. His soul is sent to his demonic master with this message:
“Whatever you may think you have gained, you will lose. Wherever you think you are powerful, we will bring you low. So swears Heydricus, and so swear the Heroes of the Temple”.
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